The Right Way
by ekc293
Summary: "My name is Richard Castle and you've never met me before, but I know all about you." If Rick is going to do this, he's going to do it right. Just a little Rick/KatexJohanna/Jim family love. Future-fic, rated T to be safe.
1. Rick

**In honor of all the love I've been getting on fanfiction today, I wrote another story. Hopefully, this one isn't as heartbreaking as _The Dedication_. I'd like to think that this is more hopeful than anything else.  
><strong>**And besides, we really don't get enough of CastlexJimxJohanna family love.  
><strong>**Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. But I did color in a picture of a Castle from a coloring book last month.**

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><p>Rick had never really liked cemeteries. Despite being a writer who described death and murder with shocking detail and shadowing a homicide detective for the past 5 years, he still found cemeteries to be a bit disturbing. They were filled with bones, and those bones had stories. Some of those stories were natural. Some were heartbreaking and tragic. And he'd never be able to know them all. There are stories in those graves that he'd never be able to tell. That would make any writer uneasy.<p>

Yet, here he was in a cemetery, holding a bouquet of flowers. Because this wasn't about him and how he was feeling. This was about _her; _and if he was going to do this, he was going to do it right.

However, _she _didn't even know he was there. Rick had woken up relatively early this morning and had left her in their bed, sleeping peacefully after they had spent the night together. He left her a note, saying he was sorry that she was waking up alone because if he had his way she would never have to do that for the rest of her life, there was a pot of coffee in the kitchen with her name on it, he'd be home before she even had time to miss him, and he loved her.

Rick had taken his keys and slowly closed the door behind him as he exited the loft, hoping that he hadn't woken up the lone inhabitant (Alexis, was currently at Oxford, about to complete her 2nd year of college and Martha had moved out once again after her acting school had really taken off) inside who was still blissfully asleep. He took the stairs down to the parking garage and got in his car. He found a florist was thankfully open and had bought a beautiful arrangement of lilies and roses before getting back into his car and driving to the cemetery.

He had never actually been to his destination before, but he soon found the plot that he was looking for. Rick read the name engraved on the tombstone and took a minute to compose himself before kneeling down in front of the grave. He put the flower in the upturned vase and let his fingers drift over the cold, but beautiful marble slab. He took a deep breath and started to speak.

"Hello, Mrs. Beckett," he said softly, "although I'm sure, like Jim, you'd probably ask that I call you Johanna. My name is Richard Castle and you've never met me before, but I know all about you."

He looked at the dates on the headstone and continued. "You have an amazing daughter. After your death, she became a homicide detective to try to solve your case. She hasn't done it yet, but I know she will. She's dedicated and loyal and undeniably one of the best detectives in the state. You would be so proud.

"Five years ago I had the privilege of meeting your daughter for the first time, and it changed my life. _She_ changed my life. I'm an author, and I started shadowing her under the pretense of research. She fascinated me. The first time she told me about you… I didn't know what to do. I mean… what do you say to someone who had lost someone in such an awful way?

"Over the next three years, I slowly realized that I had fallen in love with your daughter. I mean, how could you not? She's beautiful, inside and out. Two years ago, I finally told her so. I told her that I couldn't imagine my life without her, that I haven't been following her around for book research, that I loved her more than I ever thought possible. And you know what she did? First, she slapped me…"

Rick chuckled. "Although, I guess I really shouldn't have been surprised. I confessed in the middle of the bullpen at the precinct. In front of her other partners and her boss and everyone else she works with. She called me an… inappropriate name, but when I looked at her face she was smiling with tears in her eyes. And then she kissed me, right there in the middle of the precinct, in front of her other partners and her boss and everyone else she works with. She's full of surprises, isn't she? We've been together ever since.

He paused again. "She's everything I could've ever asked for. She doesn't let me get away with any of my shenanigans, she deals with all of my baggage, and she's a constant inspiration. Even more so, she just _fits_. I have a daughter, Alexis who just adores her. And Kate's great with her. She's the woman in her life that I always wanted Alexis to have. You have one amazing daughter, but I'm sure you already know that."

He took one last deep breath.

"Johanna, I love your daughter more than I could ever put into words. I wanted to tell you that I plan on asking Kate to marry me. Hopefully tonight, but I still need to go ask for your husband's blessing, because while she'll pretend to hate it and she's never actually said anything out loud, I know she would want me to do it. And I really want to do this right.

"I want you to know that I will do anything for your daughter. It took me a while to see it, but she's my forever. I've made some bad decisions and been with the wrong people, but this is different. It's real. It was never about my fame, or my money, or even my name with Kate. When I'm with her, I get to just be "Rick," and she gets to let go of her detective persona and simply be "Kate." I would never ask her to be anything other than that; she doesn't need to be. If she says yes… it's going to be hard on her; planning her wedding without you there to help her will be tough, but I'll be there for her. Even if she says no, I'll always be there. She doesn't deserve anything less than the best."

Rick trailed off. He wasn't sure how long he stood staring at Johanna's grave, but he found that he didn't really care. Rick couldn't help wondering how she would feel about this entire situation if he was here. Would she like him? Would she be okay with him wanting to marry Kate?

When Rick glanced at his watch and saw that he had been there for over an hour and decided he needed to get going if he was going to go see her father. He put his fingers to his lips and gently touched the marble headstone.

"I'll take care of her. I promise," He whispered. "I wish I could've met you."

He stood up and brushed off his pants. He smiled at the stone and slowly turned around to start heading to his car.

However, he was not expecting to see Jim Beckett standing a few yards away from him. Rick froze. Jim gave him a small smile and moved towards him, reaching out his hand to greet him. Rick responded in turn and gripped his hand.

"Hello, Rick."  
>"Hello, Jim." Rick answered, "I'm sorry if I've kept you waiting, you could've asked me to leave."<br>Jim answered immediately, "Never."

The silence fell between them.

"I was just about to come see you." Rick said.

"I heard," Jim replied.

Rick was shocked. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough."

"How much did you hear?"  
>"Enough."<p>

Rick shifted his weight. Jim smiled at his nervousness. He started speaking.

"Sometimes I have these dreams."

Rick looked and saw Jim looking at his wife's grave with a smile on his face.

"It's just the two of us. We're sitting in a white room, sometimes across from each other at a table, sometimes next to each other on a couch… she's always wearing this purple dress that I told her was my favorite and she looks just as beautiful as the first day I met her. She tells me things. One time I dreamed that she told me that Katie needed me. I called her the next morning and found out that she was in the hospital because she had been shot. One time she was crying and just kept repeating 'Everything's burning. Everything's gone. You have to help her…' That was the night Katie's apartment blew up."

Jim looked over to see Rick looking at him, hanging onto his every word.

"I had another dream last night. Jo was sitting across the table from me and holding my hands. She had tears streaming down her cheeks, but she was wearing a smile of pure joy. I asked her what was wrong and she laughed. Then she said 'Katie's going to be so happy!' She told me she loved me, and then just kept on smiling and crying. When I woke up, I felt this uncontrollable urge to come here. And when I arrived, I saw you and heard you talking to her. And it was then that I knew."

Both men had tears in their eyes, though they wouldn't acknowledge it.

Rick finally found his voice, "I meant every word I said."

Jim nodded, still smiling. "I know."

"Rick," he continued, "as a father, I'm sure you understand that no one is ever going to be good enough for your daughter. That there is not a single man on Earth that you can justify giving your baby girl away to, because since the moment you first held her, she was never destined to be anything but yours." He looked over to see Rick nodding, and he could've sworn Rick looked a little sadder. "But you… I would be honored to be able to call you my son-in-law."

Rick gasped in relief. He had been so sure Jim wasn't going to give him his blessing. "Sir…"  
>"Boy, what have I told you about calling me 'sir'?"<p>

"Never do it."

Jim smiled. "Then don't. You make my girl truly happy, Rick. It's been a long time since someone has managed to do that. After Johanna died… she was basically on her own. I was there, but I was too consumed with my own grief to be there for her. She's been saving people for so long that she's never had anyone there to save her. Until you entered the picture. You try to save her from herself and she lets you. She loves you, and your family, so much."

"Jim," Rick said, his tears threatening to spill over. "I'm going to take care of her."

"I know you will," Jim said, a tear escaping the corner of his eyes as he nodded his head. "I wouldn't be giving you my blessing if I believed otherwise."  
>Jim clasped Rick's hand, but wasn't the least bit surprised when Rick pulled him in closer for a quick hug. He squeezed Rick back and clapped him on the shoulder when he released him.<p>

Jim quickly gestured to the flowers.

"The flowers are lovely," Jim said, "How did you know they were her favorites?"  
>"One time after a tough case I bought Kate a bouquet that looked like that to make her feel better. She told me then that they were her mother's favorite flowers. I offered to get her new ones, but she wasn't having it. She spent the entire night curled up on the couch with me, telling me stories about the trips she used to take with Johanna to the botanical gardens and how they would spend hours looking at all the flowers until she fell asleep." Rick smiled at the memory. "Speaking of Kate, I promised her that I would be home before she had time to miss me."<p>

Jim laughed, "She'd hate for me to tell you this, but she always misses you when you're not around."

Rick laughed as well. "Well then, I guess I'd better get going. I'd hate for her to miss me too much."

"And I'd hate to see her get made at you for breaking your promise."

Rick smiled and took a deep breath. He shook Jim's hand. "It was nice seeing you Jim."

"Nice seeing you too, Rick. Go get my girl, will you?"

Rick's smile faltered. "I'm still not sure how I'm going to ask her. She won't like anything too extravagant, but it has to be big and intimate. I just want it to be perfect..." Rick sighed and gave Jim's hand one last shake before pulling away. "Wish me luck."

Jim clapped Rick on the shoulder as he passed by him on the way to his car, trying to hide his smile. After Rick was safely in his car and pulling away, Jim knelt down by his wife's grave and started laughing uncontrollably, his fingertips touching the cool marble.

"Oh Jo," He said, wiping the tears from his eyes, still laughing. "That poor man. He really thinks there's a possibility Katie's going to say 'no.'"

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><p><strong>Did you love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think.<strong>


	2. Kate

**Hello, darlings. Would you be excited to find out that I had started writing this companion piece as soon as I finished writing _The Right Way_? Actually, I started writing this one _before _I started writing the first part of this two-shot, but I figured Castle's perspective fit better as the first part.**  
><strong>Besides, in my opinion we don't get enough KatexJim father-daughter love. We always see Rick and Alexis, but we rarely see the relationship between Kate and her father.<strong>  
><strong>I hope you enjoy it (: <strong>

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><p>"I had a feeling you'd be here."<br>Kate looked up when she heard the familiar voice call out to her. She was momentarily surprised, but the shock was quickly replaced with the warm feeling in her chest every time she saw her father.

After the last few days, it was no surprise that she'd ended up here. Despite being a painful reminder of what had happened, the cemetery always managed to put Kate at ease. And after any particularly tragic case or significant event in her life, she liked to tell her mother about it.

So here she was, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of her mother's grave, her fingers absentmindedly placed on the marble stone which had been engraved with the name "Johanna Beckett" over ten years ago.

She stood up to hug her father tightly before returning to her spot in front of her mother's grave, her hand touching the cool marble. Jim sat down next to her, legs crossed as he reached his hand out to touch Johanna's headstone.

They rarely ever visit Johanna at the same time. Since Jim's battle with alcoholism and Kate completely disobeying his orders and enrolling in the academy, there had been some tension whenever they put themselves in a situation where they were forced to confront the reason they went there. Besides, they were both very private people; they weren't completely comfortable with having this kind of emotional confrontation with anyone, even family.

Jim took the hand that was not touching Johanna's gravestone and held Kate's other hand.

"Well, well, well," He said, raising his eyebrows at her. "What do we have here?"

Jim flipped over their hands and looked at Kate's fingers. Kate couldn't help but smile at the ring that was currently resting on her ring finger on her left hand.

Jim eyed her, "How long were you going to try to keep this from me?"

She laughed as he lifted their joined hands closer to his face so he could get a better look at the ring. "Not long, I promise. I was actually going to head over to your place after I told mom." She glanced lovingly down at the stone and then looked to her father. "It's a relatively recent development."

"When did he ask?"

"Last night." Kate smiled at the memory. Rick's proposal had been absolutely perfect. Not necessarily what she had expected of him if he were ever to ask her to marry him (because she truly had not been expecting it), but amazing none the less. It had been so very _them_; unpredictable, passionate, and completely full of love.

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><p><em>She had woken up yesterday morning to find that his side of their bed was cold. She had been confused, until she saw the note by her pillow and she smiled at his thoughtfulness. She spent the morning lounging around the house in his dress shirt that he wore last night. <em>

_When he still wasn't home by noon, she decided that she was going to make dinner for him and went to the store. Rick had walked through the door at 4 in the afternoon with flowers calling out to her that they were going to go out to eat. Rick pouted when he entered the kitchen after she told him she was already cooking, but he soon got over it after she gave Rick a taste of the pasta she had been making; homemade ravioli stuffed with 3 different cheeses, spinach, and some oregano for taste. It had been her mother's recipe. Rick had helped her finish making dinner (making a giant mess in the process). When they finally sat down to eat, Kate noticed that Rick seemed to be getting more and more uncomfortable, so she had asked him what was wrong. He was so out of it he had dropped his utensils the moment she started to speak. He claimed he was fine, and he clearly was not going to say anything else, so she let it drop. She hoped that he hadn't had something planned over dinner and he was upset she made him cancel. They ate in silence and Kate pretended not to notice that Rick was sneaking quick glances at her._

_When they had finished, Kate picked up their dishes and went over to the sink to start cleaning them. Rick came and stood next to her with a dishtowel in hand, ready to dry and put the dishes away. When Kate handed him the first dish and she saw his hand was shaking. Quickly, she put the dish back in the sink and grabbed his hand._

"_Rick! What's wrong?" She asked desperately. She had never seen him like this._

"_I can't do this…" He said. She dropped his hand as quickly as she had grabbed it and started backing away. Was he breaking up with her? Is that what this was all about? He was nervous because he didn't know how she was going to react? Why was he doing this?_

_Rick saw the hurt expression on Kate's face and he realized how his words could be construed. "No!" He ran forward and took her face in his hands. "No! No! No! No! No! Kate, that's not what I meant at all!"_

_Kate look confused, "Then what did you mean?"_

"_It wasn't supposed to happen this way. I was supposed to take you out to a fancy restaurant and you were supposed to get dressed up and you're supposed to remember this night forever…"_

_She cut him off, "Rick! What are you talking about!"_

"_I love you," he replied quickly and passionately. "So much. And I wanted to do this right because you deserve that. My god, you deserve so much more than me. But I'm so selfish, and I want you with me for the rest of my life. I want to wake up with you every morning and make your coffee for you. I want to be there for you after a tough case and make sure you eat. I want to have children with you because I see you with Alexis and I know you'd be an absolutely amazing mom. I want you to be mine."  
>"I'm already yours, Rick…"<br>He shook his head, "Not completely. I've made a lot of mistakes, Kate. And I've been with a lot of people who weren't good for me. But you… you're the best thing that has ever happened to me. I'm a better person with you around. You make me a better father to Alexis, a better son, a better writer, and a better friend. I can't imagine my life without you…"_

_He dropped his hands from her face and grasped one of her hands in his. The other went straight to his pocket. When he pulled out the ring and got down on one knee, she couldn't stop the tears that started to form behind her eyes._

"_Rick…"_

"_Katherine Beckett, I want to be your 'one-and-done.' Please…_ please, _will you marry me?"_

_She nodded her head vigorously, not trusting her voice, as he slid the ring on her finger and she pulled him up to kiss her. Before her lips touched his she whispered one word._

"_Always."_

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><p>Kate was brought out of her memory off the previous night when she felt her father give her hand a squeeze.<p>

"He was so nervous yesterday," Jim finally said.

Kate looked at him, accusation clear in her eyes. "Wait, you knew?"

"Of course I knew. He came and asked for my blessing."

"So that's where he was yesterday."

Jim nodded, "Well… he was with another person, too."

She looked at him confused, "Who?"

Her father gave her a smile and then gave a pointed look to the flowers in the vase above the headstone.

It took Kate a moment to process what he was saying. "You mean…"

He nodded his head.

"I thought you left the flowers."

"Nope. I woke up yesterday morning feeling like I just had to come here. I found him sitting here, just talking to your mother; telling her how amazing you turned out to be and how lucky he is to have you, promising her that he'd take care of you no matter what."

Kate could feel the tears threatening to spill over. No one had ever done anything like that for her before. When any of her past boyfriends had found out her mother had been murdered (if they ever found out at all), they had avoided the topic like it was the plague. But then again, this was Rick Castle. When had he ever done what she expected him to do?

Jim cleared his throat. "She would've loved him, you know."

Kate smiled and the tears slowly slid out of her eyes. "I know. I wish he could've met her."

"He does, too." Jim replied. When he saw her sideways glance he squeezed her hand, "He said so yesterday."

The two of them fell into a comfortable silence, both lost in their own thoughts.

After some time, Jim had a question that needed to be asked.

"Did you really slap him the first time he told you he loved you?"

Kate laughed. Really, truly laughed. Now _that_ was certainly a story to tell.

"Yes, yes I did. But I made up for it."

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><p><em>Kate, Esposito, and Ryan were busy taking down the murder board from their latest case. It had been rough. A serial killer who had a thing for shooting brunettes ages 20-40 at close range right in the chest. Castle had been out of town on a book tour and it had been a rough case without him.<em>

_Especially when Kate had been shot._

_Thankfully, she had been wearing her vest at the time, but it was close. She and the boys had entered the killer's apartment thinking that he had long since left. They split up to search the apartment. Kate had walked into what appeared to be the killer's study. She had found all the evidence she would need to convict him; pictures, notes, letters, plans - but she hadn't expected to see him standing there with a gun pointed straight at her when she turned around._

_She had tried to talk him down, but he just ignored her, saying that she couldn't change what _she_ had done. And then, standing about 5 feet away from her, he shot her in the chest. If she was being honest, she was lucky he shot her there. She clearly had her vest on, and if he had been thinking clearly he would've shot her in the head. Still, the impact caused her to fall backwards. Upon impact, she hit her head on the ground and was knocked unconscious._

_When she woke up some time later, Esposito had the suspect in handcuffs and Ryan was standing near her protectively while a paramedic went to work taking off her vest. When they looked at the vest, they realized just how lucky she had been. The bullet had gone straight through all the layers of bullet proof padding. Looking at the inside of the vest, the tip of the bullet was visible._

_So when Kate and the boys officially closed the case, all she wanted to do was go home. Her chest ached and breathing hurt and all she really wanted was to curl up in a nice hot bath with one of Castle's books and forget today ever happened. They had almost had everything put away when they heard the elevator doors open._

"_Beckett!" The voice cried frantically, "Kate! Where are you?"_

_Kate moved around to the front of her desk so Castle could see her before he tore the place apart looking for her._

"_Castle! Calm down. I'm right here. What's wrong?"_

_He walked up and grabbed her upper arms, quickly looking her over to make sure she wasn't missing any parts. Then he became incredulous._

"_What's wrong? What's wrong? I get a call from my mother while I'm on a book tour, telling me that she heard on the news that you had been _shot! _Were you going to tell me?"_

"_Castle…" she said, somewhat sheepishly, "you were working. I wasn't going to disturb you."_

"_Kate, I would've come."  
>She was now painfully aware that everyone in the bullpen was watching them. Even Montgomery had emerged from his office to see what was going on.<em>

"_Rick," she said softly, "It's not that big of a deal."  
>"Not that big of a deal?" He screamed. "You got <em>shot_ today, Kate! I'm you're _partner_; I'm supposed to be there for you! Don't you dare tell me it's not a big deal. If something happens to you, I want to know about it."_

"_Castle! I'm completely fine."_

_A look of determination crossed his face, but his eyes were still angry. "Then show me. If it's not a big deal, show me where he shot you. Show me what he did to you."_

_She pointed to her chest._

_His brow furrowed. "That's not what I meant and you know it."_

_She sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to back down. She also knew that he was going to be furious once he saw the ugly, nearly black bruise that was currently on her chest. _

_Avoiding his gaze, she took a deep breath and slowly undid the top few buttons of her blouse. His eyes never left her fingers. She pulled back to show him the bruise and he gasped. _

"_How far away from you was he?" He asked, trying desperately to keep his voice steady and fighting the urge to reach out and gently caress the ugly bruise that didn't belong on her flawless skin._

_She whispered her response, "A little less than 5 feet."_

_He lost it. "You were standing 'a little less than 5 feet; away from a _serial killer_?"_

_Kate flinched, "This is my job."_

_He shook his head vehemently. "No, that's where you're wrong. Your job is to be a detective. You are meant to find the people who take people away from their families and give the victims the justice they deserved. Your job is to give the victim's families the closure they need. It's not your job to die Kate!"_

_She noticed that his hands were clenched into fists. "Castle…"_

"_Don't 'Castle' me! You could've died today Kate! And I wasn't here! I don't know what I'd do without you…"_

"_Rick…"_

"_No! You just don't get it do you? Don't you see that this isn't about 'book research' anymore? That I don't follow you around just because I'm bored? Can't you see how much I love you?"_

_She was almost positive that everyone in the room had stopped breathing. She certainly had. _

_His eyes never left hers. "Yeah, you heard me. I, Richard Castle, am in love with you, Katherine Beckett. I love you more than I ever thought possible. I come to the precinct every morning and bring you coffee because I love you. I follow you around because I love you. I make sure you eat and sleep because I love you. I write god damn books about you because I love you! And I can't just sit around and watch you act as though you dying is 'no big deal' because I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."_

_Kate felt the tears burning at the corner of her eyes. She hated crying. Especially in front of her coworkers. She was angry. Of all the places he could've told her he loved her, why had he done it here? In front of all these people? And after all this time? After everything he'd put her heart through, he goes ahead and tells her the most heartfelt and beautiful words anybody had ever said to her. She had no control over her reaction._

_She slapped him across the face. The tears started falling freely from her eyes._

"_You are such an asshole."_

_While she said those words, she was smiling. Despite everything he put her through, she loved him more than he could ever imagined._

_When he finally looked at her again, before he could even register what was happening, she took his hands and pulled his face down to his, kissing him fiercely._

_She vaguely remembers hearing cheering coming from the people around her, but none of that mattered; because after a few seconds, Rick had wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her closer to him, and started kissing her back_.

* * *

><p>Jim smiled at his daughter when she finished recalling the story to him.<p>

"I don't know if I've ever heard of a woman slapping the love of her life after he confesses his love for her."

Kate blushed, "Yeah… well; now you have."

Jim, still holding Kate's hand, gave it a gentle squeeze. "That man really loves you."

She squeezed his hand back, "I know he does."

Kate looked down at her mother's headstone. She whispered softly, "I really miss her, dad."

"I know you do. I miss her, too."

She smiled at her dad and then leaned her head on his shoulder. He in turn, laid his cheek on the top of her head. He kept on speaking.

"Kate, I know that I haven't always been the best dad. I haven't always been there for you, or supportive like I should've been. I'm so sorry. I was too consumed by my own demons to see that you were fighting battles of your own."

Kate lifted her head and looked him in the eye, tears once again filling her own. "I'll forgive you if you'll forgive me. I know that I haven't exactly been… the easiest person to be around since mom died. And I know that I've said some pretty awful things to you. So, I'm sorry, as well."

He gave her hand another squeeze. "There's nothing to forgive."

They sat together for a while. Kate wasn't sure quite how long. However, she knew she should be getting home. She had promised Rick that she wouldn't be gone too long, even though she knew, if he knew where she was and who she was with, he wouldn't care.

Kate sighed, "I should probably get going."

"Hot date?"

Kate chuckled, "Something like that. Rick and I still need to tell Alexis the news. I think he mentioned something about a video chat."

Jim smiled at his daughter, "Sounds like fun. Send Alexis my love."

Kate smiled back. "You know I will."

Kate lifted her fingers to her lips and gently touched the marble stone that marked her mother's grave.

"Bye mom," she whispered, "I love you."

She stood up and her dad followed. She pulled him into a hug and he squeezed her tight.

"I love you, Katie," he said.

"I love you too, Dad."

When they let go of each other, Jim watched Kate move towards her car. When she was pulling away, Jim knelt back down and placed his fingers on Johanna's gravestone, tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Oh Jo," he said, "You would be so proud of your daughter."

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><p><strong>So... I know some of you asked for a more in-depth look at Rick's proposal and his first confession of his love for Kate at the precinct. I hope I lived up to your expectations.<strong>  
><strong>Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think.<strong>


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